ReBubble: new life for used soap and jobs for disabled workers

The ReBubble initiative not only has a way of recycling soap but operates a workplace where people with disabilities can do fulfilling work. Photo: AFP

It's pretty standard for hotels to include a sign in the bathroom about reusing your towel to help the environment but have you ever wondered what happens to that bar of soap that you unwrapped, then used just twice?

Most likely it's sent to the garbage, with hotels around the world throwing away 1,800 bars of soap each minute, but that's starting to change thanks to ReBubble, which not only has a way of recycling soap but operates a workplace where people with disabilities can do fulfilling work.

In Aachen, Germany, students collect hotel soaps and recycle them with the help of workers with disabilities to produce new, sustainable and solidarity-based soaps.